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  • Honoring Ancestors: Tradition of Shimi in Okinawa

    Each year in Spring, Okinawan families observe Shimi, a deeply rooted cultural tradition centered around honoring their ancestors. During this time, families come together to clean ancestral tombs, offer food and gifts, and gather in front of these sacred spaces. This custom is one of the most

  • Going the distance: Okinawa Marathon 2025

    Refreshed by a rainy start, service members and their families cheered on the participants, offering encouragement and much-needed supplies along the course. Volunteers stationed at various checkpoints along the route provided water, fruit, motivation, and medical support, ensuring the athletes had

  • Southern Beach 2025

    Southern Beach is a locally organized, bilateral exercise that brings the 18th Wing and JASDF units together to practice leading, mission planning, flying, and debriefing with one another. This exercise is a continual effort to enhance interoperability between U.S. Forces and host nation partners.

  • 5th Air Force deputy commander visits Kadena

    U.S. Air Force Col. John Schutte visited Kadena Air Base for an on-the-ground and aerial tour of the base to better learn of Kadena’s combat capabilities, operational readiness and its mission in keeping a free and open Indo-Pacific.

  • Shimi holiday on Kadena

    A Shinto priest leads a family in prayer before beginning to move their family’s remains at Kadena Air Base, Japan, April 7, 2024. The visiting families came together to pay respects to their ancestors for the annual holiday of Shimi. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Cedrique Oldaker)

  • Kadena hosts MLK Speech Competition

    U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Winsome Culley, Force Support Squadron Career Assistance Advisor, informs the judges on the rules of the Kadena Air Base Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speech Competition and how the scoring and time system will work at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Jan. 10, 2024. Martin

  • 909th ARS keeps the Marines flying

    A U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet pulls away from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker from Kadena Air Base after refueling over the Pacific Jan. 3, 2024. Conducting joint operations enhances the lethality and readiness of U.S. forces and its ability to project superior airpower to the Indo-Pacific

  • Patriots on parade at Kadena Veterans Day Parade

    U.S. military members, veterans and their families participate in the 9th Annual Veterans Day Parade at Kadena Air Base. Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 1919 and marked the first anniversary of the end of World War I.